Practical Fig Culture in Arizona 37 



wet soil should be covered with a mulch of dry soil about 4 inches 

 deep. 



Usually a single tree is set in a place, yet under conditions where 

 low bush forms are desirable for ease in covering during the winter, 

 three to five plants are set in a group. The stems should be pro- 

 tected from sunscald. 



After setting, the group needs little or no attention. The 

 single plant should be headed not to exceed 24 inches, except when 

 frost is apt to occur, killing the stems, under which condition very 

 low heading is practiced to induce the formation of several stand- 

 ards. Subsequent pruning for three or four years should be done 

 to form the framework. Young trees come into bearing very early 

 and special attempts should be made to have the tree properly pre- 

 pared. After fruiting begins the pruning should be done merely 

 to remove weak or dead wood and to shape the top advantageously 

 for the gathering of the fruit. The first year after setting, this 

 method of pruning consists in saving three to four scaffold branches, 

 shortening them not to exceed 12 inches in length, and so arranging 

 them as to grow a vase-shaped top. The following season two 

 branches, each cut back about two-thirds its length, are left on 

 each scaffold, with the removal of all drooping ones. The third 

 season the growth is shortened about one-third, and thereafter the, 

 top is merely thinned to provide good space for the bearing wood. 



On the fig all the fruit is borne on one-year-old wood. In 

 training it is well to bear this in mind and to avoid the removal of 

 too large a proportion of the bearing surface of the plant. 



THE pruning of BEARING TREES 



Due to the small size of second-crop figs an attempt was made 

 to influence the development of the fruit and growth of new wood 

 on Lob Injir, Black Smyrna, and Black Adriatic. Practically one- 

 half of the bearing wood was removed in each specimen pruned on 

 February 3, 1914. Heavy pruning done to thin the fruit apparently 

 has a tendency to reduce the yield and shorten the picking season 

 and does not influence the size of the fruit, yet replaces the old with 

 a larger proportion of bearing fruit. 



CULTIVATION AND IRRIGATION 



Fig trees are shallow rooted but gross feeders. Clean cultivation 



is perhaps the best method of Caring for young trees. They should 



at least be given good care until they become well established. 



Injury to the top, or adverse climatic or soil conditions while the 



tree is young and especially before the root system is established, 



